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Sunday, March 27, 2011

Russia moves to permanent ‘daylight saving time’

Russians set their clocks one hour forward in the early hours of this morning, and in so doing put an end to the 30-year old tradition of moving clock hands one hour forward in spring, and one hour backward in autumn, says the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. He argued that this would deliver Russians of the necessity of getting adapted to a new life rhythm twice a year.

The transition to daylight saving time was established in 1981 in an attempt to reduce energy consumption. One year ago, President Medvedev asked experts to analyze whether this “playing with time” is rational. In February 2011, he ordered not to revert to winter time anymore. This means that from today, Russians will live according to summer time all the year long.

The Russian parliament is now working on a draft law on time calculation across the country, which spans nine time zones. Opinions may differ, and Russian laws on time calculation may well receive further corrections in the future. But now Russia is joining the family of the countries that don’t change time twice a year. In most Asian countries, including Japan, China and South Korea, time is not changed all the year long. The same is true for nearly all African and Latin American countries. In the United States, Arizona and Hawaii do not transfer to summer time. Former Soviet republics Ukraine and Belarus are also considering whether to reject “playing with time”.